1981:

20 policemen, two paddy wagons, two dog teams, and several motorcycle units descend on a South Vancouver neighbourhood, after receiving word of a cross-burning ceremony taking place, presided over by the Ku Klux Klan - the first public action the group has taken in Vancouver in nearly fifty years.

“Police seized two rifles and a shotgun after searching the Klan members’ vehicles and took the names of the 30 Klan members who assembled for the Saturday night ceremony,” reports the Vancouver Sun. “The cross-burning took place only a few hours after an anti-racism rally in a South Vancouver park was disrupted by a stick-swinging group of demonstrators.”

The burning ceremony - held to celebrate the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, was, according to VPD Sergeant Koos Dykstra, “a well-publicized fact - more than one person knew about it.” In fact, in the days preceding the ceremony, local papers such as the Sun and the Province were invited, though all declined the chance to attend. However, despite the publicity, and the allegiance of the Klan members, police are unsure if charges can be laid.

“There are certain laws against this sort of thing,” explains VPD Inspector Ron Foyle, “but I am not sure what will be done at this time.”

The Klan flourished briefly in the Vancouver of the 1920s, planning and executing a number of public actions from their Imperial Palace (which would later become Canuck Place), however, their membership quickly dwindled following a city bylaw which prohibited the wearing of masks. However, the Klan has remained active - albeit, in extremely small numbers, across the country, attempting several unsuccessful resurgences through the decades, even going so far as to attempt a recruiting drive in Vancouver during the weekend of the cross-burning ceremony.

National Grand Wizard Alexander McQuirter praises the ceremony, as well as the violence against anti-racism protestors, calling them an aid to “the Klan’s promotion of an all-white country.”

McQuirter will later be arrested several times for Klan-related activities, and, after spending a number of years in prison, will eventually renounce and apologize for his racist past.

“I was a different person 25 years ago,” he will tell Stewart Bell of the National Post. “I have learned something important over the many years since 1980 — that it was not possible for me to change my past, but it was possible for me to change.”

 

IMAGE: The Imperial Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, outside the Imperial Palace, circa 1925. Image Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.